Bears surviving nail-biters

It's safe to say Alex
Hallwachs' 45-yard field goal in the closing seconds set off some
excitement on the Wash U. sideline.
Carnegie Mellon athletics photo

The season for Washington University in St. Louis can almost be
capsulized in one series Saturday with time winding down in the
fourth quarter of its University Athletic Association opener on the
road in Pittsburgh against Carnegie Mellon.

Trailing 7-6 with no time outs on its own 49, the Bears faced a
fourth-and-11 with 0:50 left in the game. Washington U. quarterback
Eric Daginella found freshman Hank Childs for 17 yards and a first
down. Daginella found Childs one more time before Alex Hallwachs
came in to kick a 45-yard field goal with eight seconds left to
give the Bears a 9-6 victory.

Coach Larry Kindbom admits it has been that kind of season for
Washington U. The week before, the Bears survived a 7-0 win over
Macalester. The week before that, Washington U. won a wild,
four-point game on the road against Hendrix.

"My hands were over my eyes at that point," said Kindbom with a
laugh, the 25-year veteran coach of the Bears. "Eric just loves to
compete but it's kind of neat because with all of our guys they
have this makeup that they really don't get flustered.

"There are a lot of things that had to happen to have that play
come off. Hank is a freshman who wasn't even stepping on the field
to start the season and he just laid out to make this diving catch
and Eric kept the play alive long enough to find him."

Kindbom said Daginella, like most of his team, is someone who
just goes out and make plays for the Bears when the team needs them
the most.

"Eric has done a great job for us in weathering the storm,"
Kindbom said. "He's helping new guys coming in and we've been able
to play well enough to win. He's not a real vocal guy but he loves
to compete. Eric reflects the way our team is composed right now.
He's not going to get the grease board and draw up plays. But he's
just able to go out there, make plays and make other guys feel
comfortable."

The Carnegie Mellon victory was Washington's fifth straight win
after losing to No. 6 UW-Whitewater and Coe in two of its first
three games of the season. Now at 6-2, the Bears have put itself in
a position to finish the regular season with six-straight wins to
make a case for themselves for a Pool B playoff bid.

Kindbom said, though, he doesn't necessarily see the Bears' 17-7
loss to Whitewater on the road as a plus for them. Washington U.
led the game 7-0 in the fourth quarter before surrendering 17
unanswered points for the come-from-behind Warhawks victory.

"We feel blessed to have an athletic director who lets us go out
and play some of the best teams in the country, but our goal is to
beat them," Kindbom said. "We were up in the fourth quarter and
couldn't put them away. That's not a game we hang our hats on
because we thought we had a pretty good shot at winning. Like a
good team is supposed to do, they made some plays late and beat
us."

And Kindbom don't want to even discuss the possibility of being
considered for the playoffs if the Bears win out, even it would be
an uphill climb with two losses.

"I don’t' even think (about the playoffs) that way,"
Kindbom said. "The only thing that interests us right now is if our
guys are ready for Case Western by the opening kickoff on Saturday.
I've been around long enough to realize if you start to get ahead
of yourself this game has a way of humbling you. That's why we
don't look beyond the next play.

"This team is well-grounded and humble. We're getting as much
out of our ability. Every kid here belongs here. The average ACT
for our freshman class is 33. Our guys understand the scope of it.
They understand that tradition doesn't win games, but don't mind
having that tradition behind them."

The Bears defense has played well this season. Washington held
UW-Whitewater to its lowest point total year in that season opener
for both teams. Only one team has scored more than 20 points on
Washington all season, when the Bears outscored Hendrix in a 45-41
shootout on Oct. 12.

"We've been doing a good job swarming to the football and making
big plays," Kindbom said. "You can't always count on that but we've
been able to do that. In general, we've been pretty solid. We have
a lot of seniors show up and we have a junior we think is pretty
special in Fade Oluokun (linebacker, 49 tackles). Peter Lowery
(senior linebacker, 44 tackles), Nelson Nwumeh (senior defensive
lineman, 55 tackles) and our defensive front are playing pretty
special. We have a lot of kids who have been with us for three
years."

Kindbom said his biggest challenge is keeping the Bears healthy
down the stretch. Last week, he said the Bears were playing six
freshmen. Washington's leading rusher Zach Lonneman (81.4 yards per
game) didn't even make the trip for Pittsburgh because of injury
and Kindbom said he wasn't sure if he would be ready to play this
week at home against Case Western Reserve.

Kindbom said he is hoping for consistency in his lineup and play
to get the Bears through the next two games – and he'll worry
about what comes next after those contests are over with.

Watch these games

No. 4 North Central (8-0, 5-0 in CCIW) at No. 19 Wheaton
(7-1, 4-1): After an impressive 46-17 victory over No.
17-ranked Illinois Wesleyan, the Cardinals will battle rival
Wheaton in the annual Little Brass Bell game. Throw the records and
rankings out the window. It was just last year that a flying-high
Cardinal team lost to the Thunder 35-21 in this contest at North
Central. If the Cardinals win, they will wrap up the CCIW's
automatic playoff bid. Lose, and things become a little more
complicated.

No. 22 Illinois College (8-0, 7-0 in MWC) at Cornell
(5-3, 5-2): Illinois College was able to maintain its
six-quarter lead over St. Norbert (7-1, 7-0) in the Midwest
Conference with two games and eight quarters to go. That means the
Blueboys can wrap up the second tiebreaker against the Green
Knights by winning three of the four quarters – and the game
– against Cornell on the road. Cornell may not make it that
easy. The Rams fell to St. Norbert by three points and Lake Forest
by seven points in their two losses, so this could be
interesting.

Clyde Hughes has been writing sports at various times over the past 24 years, covering everything from high school, college and sporting events. A native of football-crazed Texas, Hughes works in Indiana and has written for numerous newspapers and magazines.2003-04 columnist: John Regenfuss